By: Friedrich Seiltgen
Copyright © 2023
FABRIQUE NATIONAL
Founded In 1889, Fabrique Nationale was started by a group of Belgian investors to manufacture Mauser rifles for the Belgian army. In 1898, John Browning had a fallout with the Winchester company about his new autoloading shotgun design, the A5. Winchester wanted to give Browning a one-time single fee payment for the rights to the A5, while Browning wanted royalties based on unit sales.
Browning signed a deal with FN to produce the new A5 design, and Browning moved to Belgium to work with FN. Browning designed several firearms for FN and passed away working at his bench while working on the FN Hi-Power design.
FN produced the FAL, French for Fusil Automatique Léger (Light Automatic Rifle). Made by Fabrique Nationale in Herstal, Belgium. The FAL has been in service since 1953 in over 90 countries. The original design of the FAL started in 1946 as the brainchild of Belgian weapons designer Dieudonne Joseph Saive. Saive was immensely talented and designed the FN model 49 and modified some of John Browning’s designs.
THE 510 TACTICAL
The frame was designed for superior balance and grip texture to dampen recoil and allow better control. The precision-tuned, target-grade trigger breaks cleanly at approximately 6 pounds. It features different interchangeable backstraps for a proper grip. There’s a MIL-STD-1913 rail for lights and lasers and a fully ambidextrous slide-stop lever and magazine release.
The barrel is a 4.71-inch, 1:16 RH twist, cold hammer-forged, and target crowned for enduring accuracy and threaded .578”x28 to mount compensators and suppressors with a Polished feed ramp and chamber for feed reliability.
The slide is machined steel and cut to mount most optics; no gunsmith is needed. Other features include front and rear cocking serrations, empty chamber indicator, tritium lamp steel dovetail sights that co-witness with most MRD optics, and a high-endurance conical striker.
SPECIFICATIONS
Type: Double Action, Striker Fired
Caliber: 10MM
Magazine capacity: 10, 15, or 22
Sights: Tritium lamp steel dovetail sights, co-witness with most MRD optics
Barrel Length: 4.71 Inches
Overall Length: 8.3 Inches
Width: 1.45 Inches
Weight: 32 Ounces
MSRP: $1,139
URL: www.fnamerica.com
THE VERDICT
A full-size pistol with 22+1 rounds of 10mm at your disposal. Check one out at your FN dealer.
It comes shipped with two interchangeable backstraps, one 15-round and 22-round magazine or two 10-round magazines, and four MRD mounting plates in a premium zippered case.
That’s all for now, folks! Please keep sending in your questions, tips, and article ideas. And as always – “Let’s Be Careful Out There.”
Friedrich Seiltgen is a retired Master Police Officer with 20 years of service with the Orlando Police Department. He conducts training in Lone Wolf Terrorism Counterstrategies, Firearms, and Active Shooter Response. His writing has appeared in RECOIL, Soldier of Fortune, The Counter Terrorist Magazine, Off Grid, American Thinker, Homeland Security Today, and The Journal of Counterterrorism & Homeland Security International. Contact him at [email protected].